Chapter-22

-Previously in DiR-

"Shhh..." Nate shushed him. "Where is the nearest portal?"

"Just some blocks ahead."

"Let's go then."

We moved quickly like we were some thieves. We passed some buildings and people. I caught girls swooning over the two brothers and some of them glared at me for they probably thought I was with one of them. This cliché scene made me laugh.

We stopped when we reached a building. It was a hotel. A not very good hotel from the look of it.

"I'm not going in." I declared.

"Who said anything about going in?" Victor asked. "We've to make a portal at the backside of the building."

"I really hate this portal thingy."

***

"Crying is cleansing. There is a reason for tears, happiness or sadness."-Dionne Warwick

Chapter-22

-Karen-

"You may hate this but what are you going to say about this?" Victor said through his gritted teeth.

I looked at what he was referring to.

There were two people; a girl and boy who were engaged in a very nasty make-out session on backside.

Nate scoffed beside me. And I nearly gagged.

"Hey kids, would ya mind getting out of here?" Victor literally pulled the guy off the girl.

I saw the girl open her eyes as if she was intoxicated. I assumed they both were drunk. She looked at Victor with a flirty smile and I couldn't know if he was replying to that or not as there was darkness falling on his face.

"What's your problem, man?" The guy looked scared and brave at the same time.

"If you don't get out of here, it might turn into a problem for you." He answered.

Next moment, the girl shrieked and they both ran like a monster was following them. Well, the irony. Victor was a monster in disguise of a handsome boy.

Did I just say handsome boy? Argh!!!

He turned to us. Light poured on his fine features.

"What did you do to scare them like that?" I asked.

"I showed them my fangs." He smirked.

"Are you insane?" Nate asked, stepping forward. "This show off act can reveal the secret we are keeping from the humans. How can you be so stupid?'

"Oh, wait he is stupid." I added.

Victor rolled his eyes.

"Who is going to believe them, huh? Our kind only exists in stories and television for them." He explained. "And they were drunk. They are probably going to forget this as a bad dream when they wake up tomorrow."

"Is it past midnight?" Nate asked.

"Oh, shit! Yes it is." Victor exclaimed. He raked a hand through his hair. "We are in deep trouble."

"What, are you both Cinderella?" I asked.

"Who is that?" Nate asked.

"Umm...Cinderella is a fairy tale about a girl..." I started but Victor interrupted me.

"There is no time for stories." Victor said. "The portals have been closed and will only open after 2 am. We have to find a place where we can stay...this hotel looks good enough, doesn't it Karen?"

Oh, God. I. Was. Not. Getting. In.

I was going to spend the whole time on the road rather than getting in. Only half an hour or an hour was left for the clock to strike 2. So, we didn't need to stay anywhere until the time. Maybe Victor was just trying to annoy me because he knew how much I hated this hotel and this place.

"Okay, as you wish." Victor said. "But the place might have a telephone, you know."

He winked and I suddenly understood what he was trying to imply. A telephone.

I could phone at my home. I could call Jon if I wanted to.

"Yeah, maybe we can just go in for a while." I said turning to Nate.

He narrowed his eyes at the change in my decision.

"I wouldn't mind going anywhere with you two and I can feel my body adjusting in this environment. I feel stronger than I thought I would feel." He said.

"You're still wearing my locket." Victor commented, "If you give it back I'll also be able to restore some energy because the smell of blood is making me crazy."

I watched Nate take off the locket and giving it to Victor.

"What about these lockets?" I asked.

"It helps in travelling through the portal and keeping the blood lust in control." He shrugged. "You can travel without lockets but it drains out a lot of energy and to restore that energy, you'll have to drink blood. Lots of blood. Makes sense?"

"You have a locket too."

"Yeah, but it is an old locket which has ran out of powerful magic throughout the years." He said. "It is only a spare locket that I keep for times like this. It comes handy."

I nodded.

We walked inside the hotel. It wasn't so bad from the inside. Yeah, it wasn't your five star hotel but it was decent than I had been expecting it to be. Victor got in a conversation with the tall brunette receptionist. He was charming when it came to women. But that didn't mean I liked him.

"She needs to make a call." He said to the receptionist.

She smiled at me and gestured me the telephone before again turning to him.

I heard him telling her that I was his sister.

I wanted to roll my eyes and glare at him but as he was helping me, I dared to do none of them. Even if he was a womaniser and a bad news, I was not going to let this chance slip away.

"What is this?" Nate asked me.

This brother of his was totally opposite. There were girls who were staring at him like a fresh piece of meat but he wasn't paying any attention to them. It felt like he was trying to blend in with the strange world but he was failing. There were things he had never seen and there were things he didn't know about.

He looked at the telephone receiver like it was a bomb in my hand.

"And this is my brother, Nathaniel." Victor put his arm around Nate and gripped him away to show him to the receptionist. "He is one handsome little brother, isn't he?"

I smiled. He was doing this purposefully. He wanted me to make a call.

I dialled the number that was closest to my heart and waited for Jon to pick up.

On the fourth ring Jon picked up.

"Hello," My heart melted at his warm voice.

I found myself unable to answer anything.

"Hello. Who is this?" He asked.

I opened my mouth but nothing came out. What was I going to say? There was nothing that could stop me from going back to the supernatural world. I couldn't risk Jon's life. He couldn't come here and fight Nate or Victor to get me back.

A tear rolled down my cheek and a sob escaped my mouth.

"I swear to g—Karen? Is that you, Karen?" He asked desperately. "Karen, answered me. God! Dammit, answer me. I know this is you."

I had to say something. I could feel him panic through the phone. He was dying to hear my reply.

"Jon," I finally whispered.

"Oh yes, it's you. Where are you? How are you? Where are you calling from?" He was breathless. "I'm going to find you and bring you home no matter wherever you are. Are you listening, cupcake?"

I smiled through my tears. More tears welled up in my eyes.

"I'm okay." I said.

"Are you coming back?" He asked.

"I hope so."

"Don't cut the line. Maybe I can get to you. Just tell me where you are." I heard papers being turned and torn. He was going to write down my location. Typical Jon, always trying to do detective work.

"You can't reach me, Jon." I said. "I'm too far away."

"At least give me something. You call after so many days only to tell you're alive and I'm freaking out here to get to you because I knew you were alive." He was crying too. "Everybody here seems to give up their hope but I knew you were alive."

"Jon, look I can't tell you where I am. But I'm fine. And if the fate is in our favour, we'll meet soon." I was crying so badly. "I have to go, Jon. I'm sorry."

"Karen, don't think you're alone." He said. "I'm always with you."

I put down the receiver crying and sniffing.

I looked up and saw three pairs of eyes staring at me. The receptionist had her mouth open, Nate was confused and Victor had a secret smile tucked on his lips.

"I told you she is emotional when it comes to calling mom. She hates to travel the world with her brothers." Victor said to her. "She misses mom so much."

"Poor baby," The receptionist mouthed. And the look on her face said she was really sorry for me.

"Let's go to the next destination guys. I promise it will be fun. An elder brother promise." Victor grinned. "And Lara, it was really nice meeting you."

We got out of the hotel and Victor chuckled.

"I told her it was like baby-sitting you both on a holiday. And she believed me." He said then whispered to me. "Stop crying, I'm sure your Jon is okay."

"She called her friend and you let her?" Nate asked.

"Chill dude, she deserved that for saving my life." He said to him. "And I think she deserves more than you give her credit for. You need to understand what she is going through."

"I'm not running away." I said to Nate and I saw his eyes soften.

"I know Karen." He looked down.

"It's 2 am. We need to make the portal active before anything happens to stop us from returning to the dimension." Victor said. "We certainly don't want to be turned into ashes when the sun rises."

"You both are going to turn into ashes?" I asked.

"Without the magical locket, Nathan is exactly going 'puff' in sunlight." He made a motion with his hand. "I'm going to survive though."

"Can we just travel now?" Nate asked.

"Of course," Victor said. "I don't wanna babysit you for the rest of my life."

We walked to the backside of the building and I watched Victor close his eyes and touch his locket. He murmured something under his breath. After some seconds, the locket began to glow its green light.

I watched in surprise as an oval door made of green light formed. The light swirled and it became faster with every moment.

"Get in before it closes and we lose our chance." Nate said.

He gripped my hand. A shiver ran through my body and I trembled. His hand was cold as ice. Even when there was no warmth in his hand I felt secure by his touch.

Victor got in first. He disappeared in the door and I closed my eyes.

With Nate I entered the swirling green door and got sucked into it.

It was nothing like when I had entered the portal first when Jon and I had come to Escoffier mansion. This was circular motion and it made my stomach churn. I didn't know if I was still holding Nate's hand or not.

The circular motion was making me sick.

A/N So I hit 20K!!!! Yay!

There is a list of people I wanna thank for hitting this unreachable milestone (I thought it was unreachable for me).

-->> Thank you to those who read and voted/commented.

-->> Thank you to my best friend who told me to carry on with this work.

-->> Thank you to those people who added DiR in their libraries and reading lists.

-->> Thank you for the suggestions.

-->> Thank you for making covers @candidMoments and @fluffypancakes12.

-->> Thank you for the awesome DiR playlist you all gave me.

-->> Thank you to those who read and didn't vote.

-->> Thank you to those who voted but didn't read. :D

-->> Thank you to them who are reading this.

-->> Thank you to my followers and my unfollowers (following and then unfollowing) XD

-->> Thank you all. (I could have said it straight but I wanted to make you feel special my readers)

:') So emotional right now.

-M_m